Re Thomas Hines’ review of “Julia Morgan:...

Re Thomas Hines’ review of “Julia Morgan: Architect” by Sara Holmes Boutelle (Book Review, Sept. 4): While I too am a Julia Morgan fan, and pleased to see a longer overdue appreciation of her work, our enthusiasm must not overshadow the truth. Hines credits Julia Morgan with the design of Hearst’s “Wyntoon,” but it was designed and built (and later destroyed by fire) by Bernard Maybeck in 1902-03. Julia Morgan was 25 at the time and just returning from her European schooling.

ALAN LOUIS KISHBAUGH LOS ANGELES

According to Boutelle, Morgan lived in the apartment below Maybeck’s in Paris in 1898. At that time she assisted Maybeck on the drawings for Hearst Hall and “possibly also on the drawings for Mrs. Hearst’s castle at Wyntoon.” When Maybeck’s castle at Wyntoon burned down in 1929, he and Morgan were asked to plan a replacement. Maybeck’s drawings were deemed prohibitively expensive and Hearst placed Morgan alone in charge of building the new Wyntoon.